Presidential Election 2022 Droupadi Murmu Versus Yashwant Sinha: Know About Both The Presidential Candidates

Updated: Sunday, July 26, 2026, 15:03 [IST]

The Republic of India is going to get its 15th President in the month of July, 2022 with the end of the tenure of hon'ble President Ramnath Kovind on July 24. For the same the Presidential election is scheduled to be held on July 18 and the counting of votes will be done on July 21. With the announcement of final results the 15th President of India will be sworn in on July 25, 2022.

Two prominent names have been announced as the candidates of the presidential elections going to be held this year. First one is Draupadi Murmu who is selected by the BJP led NDA government as its presidential candidate and second is Yashwant Sinha whose name is announced for the elections by the Joint Opposition Party. Let's know about them in detail and the process of Presidential elections.

President Election:Draupadi Murmu & Yashwant Sinha

How The President Is Elected

The President is elected through indirect election by the electoral college. The members of both houses of parliament, that is the Lower house; Lok Sabha and the Upper house; Rajya Sabha, and members of legislative assemblies are eligible to cast votes for Presidential Elections. In total 4,809 votes are being cast including 776 votes of the member of Parliament.

Here it should be noted that nominated members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and legislative assemblies are not eligible to cast their votes for Presidential elections. Here, the value of the votes of the members of the Legislative Assembly is 543,231 while the value of the votes of the MPs is 543,200, which is equivalent to the value of 1,086,431.

Draupadi Murmu: The NDA Candidate For Presidential Elections

Draupadi Murmu who hails from Odisha and served as the former Governor of Jharkhand is nominated by BJP led NDA government for the candidature of Presidential Elections. Her name was announced after a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board which was chaired by Narendra Modi. in a span of 2 decades of her political career she also has been awarded as the best MLA of the year award by the Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Important Points About Draupadi Murmu

Here are some interesting points you should know about Draupadi Murmu.

In 2015 she became the first woman Governor of Jharkhand.
If Draupadi Murmu wins the Presidential Elections she will be the first Tribal and Second woman to become the President of India.
She has also served as the minister of state in Government of Odisha.
Hailing from Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, Murmu started out as a teacher before entering state politics.
She has been an MLA twice, on BJP ticket, from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj (2000 and 2009).
She has served as the minister of Commerce and Transport, and, subsequently, the Fisheries and Animal Husbandry during the BJP-BJD coalition government that came to power in 2000,.
Before she became an MLA, Murmu served as councillor in the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat, after winning elections in 1997, and as vice-president of the BJP's Scheduled Tribes Morcha.
Her expected win as President will boost the BJP's tribal votes- with the NDA commanding 48% of the electoral vote.

Political Career of Draupadi Murmu

While considering her political career, Draupadi Murmu is known as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand and the first tribal woman to be appointed as Governor of any Indian State. In the coalition government of BJP and BJD in Odisha she has served as the minister of state with independent charge for Commerce and Transport from 6 March 2000 to 6 August 2002. She hails from Rairangpur assembly constituency and served as the former minister of Odisha from 2000 to 2004.

Interesting Facts On Draupadi Murmu

Draupadi Murmu belongs to Santhal tribe of Odisha.
Draupadi Murmu was elected as a councillor in 1997.
Draupadi Murmu became the vice-chairperson of the Rairangpur NAC in 1997.
She was later elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly, Rairangpur, Odisha
She has also served as a Minister of State in the Odisha government.
Between 2002 and 2009, Draupadi Murmu remained the National Executive Member of the ST Morcha, BJP.
In 2007, Draupadi Murmu was awarded "Nilakantha Award.

Yashwant Sinha: The Presidential Candidate From Opposition

Yashwant Sinha who is nominated by the joint opposition is the former IAS Officer and one of prominent political personalities. He has served as the former Union-minister in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government. His name was announced in a parliamentary meeting chaired by NCP Chief Sharad Pawar.

Mr Sinha before trying his hands in politics has been an Indian Administrative service officer. Hailing from Patna, Bihar Sinha Joined IAS in 1960 and then started his political journey in 1984 by joining Janata Party. Although he has served in various capacities, Finance has always been his strongest domain. In the Atal Bihari Vajapee led government he served as the Finance Minister for the first three years starting from 1998 to 2002.

Important Points On Yashwant Sinha

Here we are presenting some important points on the presidential candidate Mr Yashwant Sinha.
He is the first finance minister to break the tradition from colonial-era where Union Budgets used to be presented in the evening. As the finance Minister, Sinha presented the First Union Budget in 1998-99 in the Morning.Sinha's 1998-99 Budget was the first to have been presented in the morning.
The credit of boosting the fundings of National Highways Authority of India by introducing Petroleum cess goes to him. This helped to kickstart the most ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project.
In his book The Confession of a swadeshi reformer; his confessions about the stint of Finance minister could be read.
He was elected as the member of Rajya Sabha in 1988.
He was one of the founding members of Janata Dal in 1989 and held the position of party's General Secretary who later joined BJP.
He has been a part of BJP from 1992 to 2018.
He quit BJP on April 21, 2018 and in 2021 joined Trinamool Congress as its National Vice President.
During his political career of more than 3 decades he got experience of key ministries by serving as the union Minister of Finance, Minister of External Affairs, Minister of External Affairs etc. In Vajpayee Ji's Government he served as the external affairs minister from July 2002 to May 2004.
In 2015, the senior politician received the French government's highest civilian award; Officer de la Légion d'Honneur.